Famous Opening Sequences

Star Wars: A New Hope

Narrative: Throughout the opening scene a brief description on the story line is shown, this text takes up a large amount of the opening scene. It is written in a bright yellow font on a black background making the text stand out and shows it as being important.

Text: The Star Wars logo is written it its own iconic font and it slowly fades out into the background to give a dramatic effect. The narrative scrolls from the bottom of the screen to the top, which is iconic as this is done in all 6 films. One line of text is written in blue and sets the scene of the movie; it’s almost like a fairy tale in terms of “a long time ago”.

Sound: Soundtrack is used to show importance of text and to build suspense for those who are watching. The soundtrack is also unique as it was made specifically for the movie.

Audience: It is a family friendly opening scene, as it doesn’t contain any thing to graphic for younger viewers. Also the audience will be people who have watched the previous films, as each opening is extremely similar in all of the films, this technique brings excitement to the viewers.

Institutional elements: At the very start of the opening both Lucas film and 20th Century Fox are featured as they were both involved in the producing of the film. They're company names are both featured in their own personal fonts and colours which makes them more easily recognisable.

Lord Of The Rings: Two Towers

Narrative: Not much of the story line is shown in the opening scene, however it carries on from the previous film, and starts with an action scene almost straight away, ensuring people's attention.

Text: the only text used other than the institutions is the title of the film, this used its own unique recognisable font which has a rustic look to it which is relatable to the type of film it is. The title slowly fades in and out of the screen to make it more observable as movement attracts attention.

Sound:the sound used is a soundtrack make specifically for the Lord of the rings trilogy, it gets louder as the film title is shown to symbolise the importance of it. It is quite peaceful music and the image shown is of a snowy mountain top which is quite contradictory as the next scene is a battle between a Balrog and Gandalf resulting in Gandalf’s death.

Audience: The audience for this advert would be anyone who is interested in fantasy films and those who have seen the previous film, this is because the soundtrack is similar to that from the first film.

Institutional elements: New line cinema is shown twice in the opening of this movie, once in its own unique font and then the second time in a font that matches the movie title.

Harry Potter: The Philosophers Stone

Narrative: The first image shown that is other than a company name is of the street address which is quite informative as to where the film is set, it then goes on to Dumbledore using some sort of magical contraption which tells the viewers what the film is going to be about.

Text: there is very little text shown in the opening of this film other than that of the street name, which makes this film unique as films often have directors names or actors names.

Sound: It starts off with quite a cheerful soundtrack whilst the institution logo is presented but then turns into an ominous creepy soundtrack as the image becomes a dark gloomy street.

Audience:the audience for the opening of this film would be a family as it has music which brings excitement and

Institutional elements: Warner Bros is the company that produced this film and they have their own extremely recognisable logo and introduction.

Hunger Games:

Narrative: The story line is shown briefly in a few paragraphs which informs viewers on the previous time before the film sets, this is helpful as it prevents confusion.

Text: The only text is narrative or institutional, there isn't even a film title or a directors names, which makes this opening quite unique. Also the font the use for the narrative is quite plain and boring and isn't very interesting to look at.

Sound: It starts with quite peaceful relaxing music, then cuts to an interview and then after about a minute cuts to a child screaming.

Audience: the audience for this film opening would be anyone who likes fictional movies.

Institutional elements: Lionsgate and Color Force are the companies who developed the film and produced the film.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Narrative: the opening starts with Bilbo Baggings explaining to Frodo through a note about how he obtained the ring through adventuring, this leads up to the rest of the film where we visually see his adventures

Text: There is institutional text shown twice, once in its own recognisable font and once that matches the film title. The film title has a rock like texture which can give some implications that the film will be based around adventuring and mountains.

Sound: there is a unique soundtrack made specifically for the hobbit trilogy, which is quite a soft soothing soundtrack which sets the mood for the start of the film as it is quite a deep important scene.

Audience:the audience for this film would be people who have either read the books or have seen the Lord of the rings or if they are into fantasy movies set in the dwarves age.

Institutional elements: Warner bros, new line cinema and metro Goldwyn Mayer are the companies who were involved in the production of this film, all of their company names are shown in their own unique font except for New line Cinema which is shown twice ( once, matching the film title).

Maze Runner:

Narrative: This film opening contains no narrative, title or anything, just a black screen, until a light suddenly turns on and shows a teenager panicking and screaming in a cage.

Text: the only text is the institutional element.

Sound :lack of sound other than the 20th century Fox theme song and screaming/ distressing sounds.

Audience:the opening scene wouldn't have an audience as it is just a black screen until the first scene of the main character screaming in a cage.

Institutional elements: 20th Century Fox is the only institution involved in producing this film.

Pineapple Express:

Narrative:the first few minutes are set in the olden days and are setting the scene for the rest of the film. The scene is all about how cannabis was discovered by the U.S.

Text: The date of the opening scene is displayed at the bottom of the first image and the producers of the film have a title before the opening scene.

Sound: old fashioned music, quite high pitched to build up tension. Communication between people and test subject.

Audience: the audience would be anyone who enjoys comedies about drugs.

Institutional elements: Columbia produced the film, however it wasn't their usual imagery shown, it was similar however had the appearance that it would have had 50 years ago.

Jurassic World:

Narrative: There is a dinosaur egg hatching which sort of explains the story as it shows its all about dinosaurs, however the story isn't shown in great detail in the opening.

Text: there isn't any text other than the 5 different types of institutional elements.

Sound: quiet music playing softly and the sound of cracking in the background (egg breaking).

Audience: Anyone who has seen the previous Jurassic park films or anyone who is interested in dinosaurs. This is also quite a family friendly film but some scene are slightly to graphic for younger ages.

Institutional elements: universal studios, Amblin entertainment and legendary are the company names featured in the start of the film opening, also Universal studios and Amblin entertainment are shown again a few seconds later in the Jurassic world font.


         

I have learnt that opening sequences are only usually about 2 minutes long and that nearly every single one contains institutional elements and other text throughout. Not many opening sequences have narrative, meaning no audio either other than music, which will be linked to the genre of film it is.